Public Relations on the Upswing

From an overall standpoint, corporate public relations (PR) has lacked in the supplement industry. Defensively it’s always around. But consistently and professionally touting the good news to the industry and consumers (yes, even ingredient manufacturers should promote to consumers) has always been lacking.

Now comes a report that the PR industry is hiring 10-percent more than it was this time last year, according to a recent survey of online job ads. Wanted Technologies, a business intelligence tool for the recruitment industry, found organizations placed 21,000 ads for PR managers or specialists in the last 90 days. The top hiring industries were colleges and universities, civic and social organizations, family services, PR agencies, and medical and surgical hospitals. The Wanted Analytics database contains more than 600 million unique job listings that it has collected since June 2005, according to the company.

It's no surprise healthcare-related organizations are hiring, as that is certainly an industry that was shielded a bit from cyclical ups and downs of the economy. Also nonprofits, such as civic groups and universities, often have strict guidelines about hiring practices, such as a mandate to post positions widely and for a certain period of time.

I’d love to see supplement industry manufacturers step up to the plate and expand their PR efforts in 2012.